Virgil van Dijk slammed for 'painful' defending during Netherlands vs Italy | OneFootball

Virgil van Dijk has been slammed by fans for his poor defending in the build up to Federico Chiesa's goal for Italy against the Netherlands in the Nations League third-place play-off.

The Liverpool defender has been widely regarded as one of the best centre-backs in the world this decade and captains the Dutch national team.

But he has come under scrutiny in more recent times, with many feeling he is now a shadow of the player who finished as runner up for the Ballon d'Or in 2019.

And now the 31-year-old has come under fire again for his lacklustre effort to stop Chiesa from scoring.

Van Dijk's poor defending during Netherlands vs Italy

With Italy 2-1 to the good in the 71st minute, Chiesa found himself in possession on the left-hand touchline.

Van Dijk looked to have the Italian winger covered but instead of closing down the Juventus man, he allowed him to carry the ball into the box.

To make matters worse, the defender then allowed Chisea to manoeuvre the ball onto his left and fire the ball into the back of the net, without even trying to block the shot.

Fans react to Van Dijk's defending

"People said this guy was better than prime Sérgio Ramos, said one Twitter user.

"His fall off needs to be studied, for real," stressed another.

"The most overrated CB in the world," added a third.

Italy seal victory

In the end, it was Chiesa's goal which proved to be the difference.

Federico Dimarco and Davide Frattesi scored inside 20 minutes to give Italy a 2-0 lead, before Steven Bergwijn pulled a goal back.

Chiesa then made it 3-1 and while Georginio Wijnaldum made it 3-2 late on, the Netherlands still slipped to defeat.

It means the Dutch side have now lost three games since the appointment of Ronald Koeman and the ex-Barcelona boss is off to a shaky start in his second spell as manager of the national team.